Botanical classification/cultivar denomination: Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Duepettipi.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Duepettipixe2x80x99.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Rheinberg, Germany. The objective of the breeding program is to develop freely branching New Guinea Impatiens cultivars that flower early and have large flowers.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in February, 1998 of two unidentified proprietary selections of Impatiens hawkeri, not patented. The cultivar Duepettipi was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Rheinberg, Germany in June, 2000.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Rheinberg, Germany since June, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Duepettipixe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Duepettipixe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Upright, rounded and uniform plant habit.
2. Freely branching and freely flowering habit.
3. Light red purple-colored flowers that are positioned above and beyond the leaves.
4. Dark green-colored leaves.
Plants of the new Impatiens differ primarily from plants of the parent selections in flower color.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the cultivar Bonaire, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,137. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Rheinberg, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Bonaire in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens had slightly longer internodes than plants of the cultivar Bonaire.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens were more freely flowering than plants of the cultivar Bonaire.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had slightly smaller flowers than plants of the cultivar Bonaire.
4. Flower color of plants of the new Impatiens was more intense red purple than flower color of plants of the cultivar Bonaire.